Lisa LaFranca
Lisa LaFranca was a contestant on Season 8 of Hell's Kitchen. She ranked in 15th place. Personality Lisa was a confident chef, and always looked on the positive side of things. However, her advanced age was slowing her down in the kitchen. Season 8 Episode 1 After James introduced himself, all the chefs put blindfolds on, and were taken to the prize restaurant, the LA Market, in Los Angeles. Then, they returned to Hell's Kitchen, and were asked to cook their signature dishes. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Lisa was the sixth person from the red team to have their dish judged by Ramsay, and faced up against Louis. She made an unknown meat dish, which Ramsay said was dry. She did not receive any points, and neither did Louis. The red team lost the challenge after a tiebreaker, and were punished by cleaning both kitchens ahead of the opening dinner service. During the punishment, she reassured Sabrina that they would not continue to lose after that challenge. The next day, during prep, Lisa was determined to beat the blue team that night despite being down one chef, after Antonia was taken to the hospital because of a migraine. During dinner service, she was on the fish station. She had a slow start, which slowed down the momentum her team had at the beginning of the night, and revealed to Nona that she did not put her scallops on yet. Then, Ramsay told her that her scallops had no color on them, due to her constantly flipping them and cooking on a low heat. Later, she sent her halibut to the pass, but it came out raw. Both teams lost dinner service and were asked to nominate two people each for elimination. Lisa was the red team's first nominee, with Sabrina being the second, and joined Raj and Trev from the blue team. She got upset when Sabrina accused her of being spent, and argued that she could cook circles around her. Despite that, she was eliminated for her poor performance on fish and Ramsay believing she was in over her head. Ramsay's comment: "The only thing positive I can say about Lisa's performance tonight, she didn't kill anyone." Nomination history Trivia *At age 48, she is the oldest contestant to be eliminated on the opening night. *She is the second contestant to get eliminated on opening night without ranking last place in her season, following Melinda (Season 6). She is also the first one to be eliminated first. *She is the oldest female contestant when adjusted for time (57 now). *After her appearance on the show, she returned to the Corporate world as a Food and Beverage Director. Quotes *(To Sabrina) "What was that? I'm spent? Spent?!" *(To Sabrina) "Are you kidding me? I will cook circles around you, honey. I may be 48 but believe me, you don't have a chance." *(After being eliminated) "I honestly never would've thought I would've been the first person to go home. This competition was everything to me. Chef Ramsay should've sent Sabrina home. There's no doubt in my mind that if I'd ever meet her in a cook-off, I'd kick her ass." Category:Chef Category:Season 8 Category:New Yorkers Category:15th Place